The Healing Journey

The journey through life is a mystical, enchanted, wondrous path, and when we allow ourselves to flow with the path and not against it, we reap rewards that are unquantifiable. I was told that 7 years would be required for recovery: 5 for recovery and these last 2 (I’m beginning year 6) as a transformational time. And, my, it is extraordinary.

Now that I’m ready to receive, visions are becoming clearer—well, actually, visions are coming once again. If I may, I’d like to share with you what I know as of this writing (August 2013):

There are events in each of our lives that prove to be pivotal, life-changing ones. Indeed, all of us who are parents know how life-changing having a child is. But what I’m speaking of here is a different type of life change. One that makes you re-think your belief system. Thus far, for me, there have been four such events in my life’s journey. May I share with you mine? And as you are reading, please be thinking about your own.

At 27, I had 2 of my 3 sons. Living deep in the woods in a log home, at the top of a very long, steep, winding drive, we grew most of our food. The remainder was purchased from a whole foods co-op 50 miles away. Most all of our meals were homemade, with mindfulness to complimentary proteins and acid/alkaline balancing. Purified water and fresh-juiced carrots and apples were our beverages of choice. Yet I became anemic. Not just mildly anemic, but what is referred to as ‘walking death anemia,’ with an iron count of 5. Two blood transfusions and copious quantities of inorganic iron brought my level to 7. I then consulted with a former Professor of Nutrition from Cornell. Following his dietary suggestions, my iron count leveled off at 9. (12–16 HGB for women is normal.)

Then, in 1980, a big brown box was delivered by a rosy-cheeked, vibrantly healthy-looking gentleman – my father-in-law at that time. Eight weeks previously, he had been ashen grey with no vitality left to play his favorite game of golf. That was my introduction to the Shaklee Natural Food Supplements. Before this time, I didn’t believe in taking any supplements, firmly believing that we can get everything we need from our food. But what if we’re not properly absorbing all the nutrients from our food? What if, during times of stress, many nutrients are wiped away? So I tried this ‘stuff,’ adding additional iron to the basic program, and to my grandest surprise, my iron count soared to 14.9 in 8 weeks! Those plain brown bottles in a nondescript brown box launched my now 30+ year career with Shaklee. Guilt-ridden from what I felt as an obligation to share with others what I knew could also help them, that feeling began to dissolve the mountains of shyness and insecurities I then had. Through this personal growth business, I’ve met hundreds—no, thousands—of individuals. And, yes, they too were feeling better; had more energy. For some, dis-ease just disappeared. For others, chronic illnesses were being very well-managed.

Yet some still had pain. And it was the search for helping those with a history of pain that I discovered the gentle-touch, subtle—yet powerful—healing of Craniosacral Therapy. You see, I have scoliosis and kyphosis. I have had chiropractic and physical therapy, and yet it was this beautiful, safe, and, to me, sacred healing modality of Craniosacral Therapy that proved most beneficial.

Craniosacral was my second pivotal life-changing moment. Nutrition is vitally important, but there are more factors to be considered. I became an Upledger-trained Craniosacral Therapist, and I was in awe of the results my clients were experiencing from just 5 gm. of pressure.

So that was that. In 2005, I had a good handle on the nutrition and supplements and Craniosacral, so my husband and I and our two old German Shepherds headed west to California. Two of our sons were already in San Diego. I immediately began full-time schooling to become a Nationally Certified Holistic Health Practitioner specializing in Craniosacral Therapy. My plan (with the small ‘p’) was for us to later move to Hawaii and establish a small, heart-centered clinic atop of a bluff with a winding path to the ocean below. I saw this vision very clearly.

The big ‘P’, the Master Plan, had every detail under control.

The third major pivotal life-changing event, of course, was the Near Death Experience. As I enter year 6 of this version 2.0 of self (how my sons refer to this new me), I realize I’m still evolving, as we all are, for the only constant in life is change. What makes the critical difference is how we react to change. Embrace it for the opportunity it is, for there is a wealth of wisdom contained in each adversity, and that wisdom leads to personal and spiritual growth.

My Shaklee Family is one that I cherish and hold dear to my heart. It is Shaklee that saved my life from ‘walking death anemia’ in 1980. It is my personal family and my Shaklee family that has supported my recovery through prayers, patience, and understanding. I am here to be of service to you and I thank you for allowing me to serve you through phone, email, correspondence and prayer.

Missing my former T’ai Chi group in Pennsylvania, I went searching in this area for a new one. Have you ever gone looking for something but could not find it? And then, like a miracle, that something finds you? That’s what Emei Qigong is like for me. Much to my surprise, it has become my #4 pivotal life-changing event. I so appreciate complete systems of healing and am most grateful to have had the honor and privilege to study directly with the 13th Lineage Holder, Grandmaster Fu Wei Zhong. I am indebted to my two wonderful teachers here. The personal results led me to intently study and complete Levels I, II, III and Astrology I thus far. Something I would never have imagined myself doing is Birth Charts, or rather Ba Zi – Four Pillars Destiny Charts. Nor is it logical. My forte is not puzzles or math. Yet, I find calculating and analyzing charts so fascinating that any spare time is devoted to the practice. Our birth chart is like our fingerprint, and there is so much information within to help guide us; to help answer questions like, “What is my destiny?”; “What do I need in order to feel more at peace with self?”; “How can I become more balanced?”; “What do I need to change in self to create more harmonious relationships?”. Perhaps a reading of your birth chart could bring you the peace it has brought to me and help to answer life’s questions.